“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.”

–Maya Angelou

This has been a topic I, until now, unknowingly needed to write for some time. Adversity is a visitor to us all. It is not that we must escape the grasp of adversity, but we must prepare to meet it when it arrives. We must prepare our mind to overcome it, for with adversity comes pessimistic thinking. Pessimistic thinking leads to fear and anxiety, fear leads to doubt, and doubt leads to mental paralysis or even worst, depression.

During this state of fear and anxiety, much of our actions toward progress is impeded or absent. The doubt in our ability or the fear of our failure can hinder our everyday actions. It can stop us from meeting new people, communicating with the ones you’re familiar with or even prevent us from talking positively to ourselves. But we can’t let this fear constrain us. Because we are STRONGER.

“ADVERSITY IS A VISITOR TO US ALL”

The brain is stronger than we know. It can make you see pitfalls. It can make you see hurdles. It can make you see ALL the reasons why you can’t. But you CAN. You can literally do anything you make your mind up to do. You’ve seen others do things you’ve never thought could happen. But what does doubt do? It tells us that the person MUST be special. That person MUST be gifted. That person MUST have something that we have to be born with. These are the thoughts of doubt, fear, and mental paralysis. This is what holds us back. RESILIENCE IS THE KEY.

But what is resilience?

Resilience is the ability to bounce back or recover from a difficulty.

So why is resiliency so important?

It allows us to shape our life. It allows us to be stronger than the moment. Stronger than the aftermath of adversity.

So how do we build resiliency?

It starts with YOU.

Your environment does not shape your mentality. Your mentality can shape your environment. But it all starts with you and your BELIEF. You must believe that you are better. You must believe that you can change your life.The most powerful thing you can do to build resiliency is to DO. Yes, we can believe but it does not matter if we don’t do.

Do one thing that in a positive direction. Continue to do those things in baby steps. Keep doing those things even when you have doubt.This is how we break our mental barrier. This is how we knock down our wall of doubt. This is how we pave the path of resiliency. One thing you must understand is that resiliency isn’t a place. You can’t live in a state of resiliency. Resiliency is a path that you must walk. There are times we walk the path of resiliency and see hurdles of adversity or hit wall of doubt. We must break through those walls and jump those hurdles with DETERMINATION.

“RESILIENCY ISN’T A PLACE…

RESILIENCY IS A PATH THAT YOU MUST WALK”

The path to resiliency doesn’t end with success, success is only a pit-stop on the path. With increased success, there must be increased resiliency. But there is no success without resiliency.